The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) is a protocol defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (“IETF”) for transmitting data over a network, such as the Internet. Computer programs, such as web browsers, that communicate data by the hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”) are known as HTTP clients. The HTTP clients send data to the server, which may include a request for data from the server over the network. In response, the server may send data by HTTP to the client. HTTP clients may also send additional data to the server using either a “POST” or a “GET” method of the HTTP protocol.
An HTTP client may invoke another computer executable to enhance the client's functionality. For example, the HTTP client may call on a separate executable to display a certain file format, such as a portable document format (“PDF”) file. The computer executable may be a separate stand-alone computer application, a dynamically linked library (“DLL”), or a helper program or plugin written for the HTTP client. The HTTP client may be linked to the executable through the operating system, an application program interface (“API”) of the HTTP client, or through a mime-type table within the HTTP client associating file formats with computer executables.